The Life and Times of Severus Snape
by Jareth's Labyrinth
Summary: This is the [partially] untold story of the relationship between Lily Evans and Severus Snape. It fills in the gaps of the SevLily story. What made them such good friends in the beginning? What REALLY happened that made it all go wrong? DH SPOILERS
1. The First Meeting

**The Life and Times of Severus Snape**

**This is the (partially) untold story of the relationship between Lily Evans and Severus Snape. The sadness, the romance, the angst…it's all here, starting from their first meeting.**

* * *

Severus Snape walked dejectedly through the streets near his home in Spinner's End. His parents had been fighting again, like they did all the time now. He hated the shouting that filled his ears when he walked through the door, the disgust in their eyes when they looked at each other…when they looked at him. Sometimes their fights carried on past the boundaries of their house, and Severus was left to stand and watched in embarrassed silence as their raised voices carried all down the street. 

Neighbors would come up to him, mouths loaded with false, sugar coated words of comfort, and shallow pats on the back that didn't really mean anything.

He was only eight years old when he had been forced to take care of himself. He had to feed himself, clothe himself, get himself to school on time…his parents hardly noticed him anymore. Hardly cared.

_They probably wouldn't even notice if I ran away,_ Severus thought bitterly to himself. He then seriously considered the notion for a moment, but dismissed it just as quickly. Even if he did work up the courage to run away, where would he go? He had no relatives that he knew of, no one had ever come to visit. There was only one place outside of home he knew about, and that was Hogwarts.

Back when he was very small, Severus remembered his mother telling him stories about Hogwarts in a hushed whisper. Stories of witches and wizards and dragons and magic…a world he hardly dared to dream about. His mother said that he would get to go to this wonderful place when he was older. Because he could do magic.

Because he was a wizard.

Severus looked up from his musings, and stopped walking abruptly. He had walked much farther from home than he had intended. But, as he turn around to head home, something across the street caught his eye,

Two girls were playing in the park across the street from him. On an impulse, he crossed the deserted road and hid behind the bushes near the swings, out of sight, but within hearing distance.

They appeared to be sisters, whose names, after several minutes of casual eavesdropping, were revealed to be Petunia and Lily.

Lily was the younger one, and seemed to be about his age. She was very pretty, her auburn hair glittering like fire in the sun-a bright contrast to the dull surroundings. Her older sister seemed a little plain in comparison-not nearly as outgoing or vivacious as her.

Severus did not know what made him so enthralled with them…they just seemed like a couple of ordinary Muggle children to him.

"Tuney, watch this!" Lily said in a stage whisper as she climbed onto a swing.

"No! Lily, don't-"

Severus watched as Lily swung higher and higher.

"Lily, don't do it!" Petunia shrieked.

But she wasn't listening. As soon as Lily had gotten as high as she could go, she soared into the air. Literally.

Severus' mouth fell open as he watched her land gracefully on the ground. _She was a witch! She could do magic!_

He did not know why it made him so happy to know this.

"Mummy told you not to! Mummy said you weren't allowed, Lily!" Petunia had gotten of her swing and was now standing with her hands on her hips, facing her younger sister with a bossy expression on her face.

"But I'm fine!" Lily said, giggling at the thrill of the jump she had just made. "Tuney, look at this. Watch what I can do."

Severus held his breath as Lily approached the bush he was hiding behind, pick up a flower from the ground and hold it in her hand. Petunia, it was obvious, did not want to see any more magic. But he did. He wanted very badly to see what else this pretty girl could do. Craning his neck, he saw the flower in Lily's hands wave it's petals.

"Stop it!" Petunia said, clearly in distress.

Lily threw the flower on the ground, where it lay still. Snape stared at it for a moment, and tried to drum up the courage to talk to the girl, because it was obvious that she didn't know about witches and wizards and Hogwarts. He imagined himself talking to her, telling her the news. She was happy and thrilled in his imagination, proclaiming that they would be friends forever. Severus liked the sound of that. Perhaps something good would come out of this day, and he would get his first real, true friend.

"How did you do it?" he heard Petunia asked, a slightly pathetic note of longing in her voice.

"It's obvious, isn't it?" Severus said, softly, jumping up quickly from behind the bushes, unable to wait any longer to talk to Lily. Petunia gave a nervous jump and shriek, and hurried back to the safety of the swings, away from him. Lily remained standing where she was.

"What's obvious?" Lily asked, eyebrows arched.

Severus looked nervously at the distant Petunia, and lowered his voice and leaned towards her conspiratorially. "I know what you are," he said, softer than before.

"What do you mean?" she asked, copying his whisper.

"You're…" Severus took a deep breath and steadied himself. "You're a witch."

Her reaction was completely opposite from what he imagined. Instead of elated, like in his mind, she looked angry, and he pulled back alarmingly.

"_That's_ not a very nice thing to say to somebody!" Lily said, voice raised now, and much to his dismay, march away from him and back to her sister. He had to do something.

"No!" he said, and ran after her, trying both to run and to keep his dirty smock from showing. The girls turned and faced him. "You _are _a witch," he rushed to say, willing her with his mind to believe him, to realize that he wasn't calling her names. "I've been watching you for a while. But there's nothing wrong with that. My mum's one, and I'm a wizard." Severus looked at them, pleading with his eyes for them to understand. But the older sister's laugh shot through him like ice.

"Wizard!" she laughed. "I know who you are. You're that Snape boy!" Severus' heart sank to somewhere around his knees. "They live down Spinner's End, by the river," Petunia told Lily, much to his chagrin. _She won't want to be friends with me now,_ he thought sadly.

"Why have you been spying on us?" Petunia demanded, turning on him again.

"I haven't been spying!" he said hurriedly, cheeks growing hot with anger and humiliation, well aware of his mismatched, hand-me-down clothes and dirty hair. He was beginning to wish he had never come over and talked to the girls at all. Suddenly, a rush of contempt fell over him, and he added spitefully to Petunia: "Wouldn't spy on _you,_ anyway. You're a Muggle."

Petunia heard the tone of his voice, and color rushed to her cheeks. "Lily, come on, we're leaving!" she said, and Lily followed her older sister, glaring at him as she passed out of sight through the gate.

* * *

Severus lowered his head sadly, bitterly disappointed in the way things turned out. The wind ruffled his hair a little, and he turned to go, but something on the ground stopped him. It was the flower Lily had enchanted. He picked it up carefully, not wanting any of the petals to fall. Perhaps Lily would come back to him, perhaps she just needed time to think, he thought, staring at the small purple flower. Concentrating really hard, he willed the flower with all his being not to wilt or fade. 

"Please," he said softly to it.

Tucking it carefully into the pocket of his overlarge coat, he started to go, walking back down the street.

"Wait!" a voice called from behind a minute later. Severus turned sharply, and was face to face with Lily, running towards him, breathless.

"Is it true?" she demanded suddenly as she came up to him, her large, green eyes boring into his black ones.

"What?"

"The stuff you said earlier," she said. "Is it true?"

"Oh, yes!" Severus said. "Every word."

"Can you tell me more?"

"Yes. What do you want to know?"

"Not now," Lily said, her eyes showing her rapid thinking. His face fell a little. "Can you meet me in the trees by the river there?" she pointed down the street. "After dinner?"

Severus nodded, smiling, not trusting himself to speak.

"Good," she said.

* * *

**How did you like it? **

**Please review, and let me know what ya think!**


	2. Trees and Thoughts

**So I accidentally cut this last part off of chapter 1. **

_Severus watched Lily's hastily retreating form, barely restraining the urge to jump into the air and whoop loudly. He turned and headed back towards the river._

_Of course, he didn't go to dinner- but straight to the grove of trees, and waited._

**And now we start chapter 2.**

**Once again, I'm going to state that YES I did use quotes from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Cause I want to make this story fit with it. But most of this, like Sev's thoughts and feelings, stuff that isn't stated directly…is ALL MINE! **

* * *

It was the end of June, so the sun was still high in the sky that late in the afternoon. But the thick foliage of the trees provided a dense shade, and that's where Severus sat, almost itching in anticipation. He was sweating profusely, part from nervousness and part from the summer heat. He took off his overlarge coat and set it down. He would be able to see Lily coming from down the road, so he would have time to put his coat back on. He didn't want her to see his old, dirty, smock.

And hour passed, and then two. Severus was beginning to worry that she'd forgot about him, and as the minutes ticked slowly and inexorably past, he grew more and more depressed. _She didn't really want to meet me after all_, he thought. _Maybe it was just a cruel trick that she and her nasty sister planned. _This unhappy idea caught in his mind, and his dislike for the older sister, Petunia, grew with each second. _Maybe I should leave…_ Severus thought bleakly. But there was still a chance that she might come, that she was just delayed, that she really wanted to meet him. Really wanted to talk to him.

"Sev?" called a soft voice through the trees. He jumped.

"Lily!" He had been so busy thinking, staring out at the river, he hadn't even noticed that she had walked up to him. He had half a mind to dash for his coat, super conscious of his dirty, too-big smock. But she didn't seem to mind.

"Sorry I'm late," she said, and did seem truly sorry. "I had trouble slipping away from Petunia."

"That's alright," he said hastily, his nervousness taking over again, now that she was here, in front of him. An awkward silence stretched between them as they stood there, alternating between staring at each other and averting their eyes.

Lily was first to break the silence. "So…you said you could tell me why I can do things…things that others can't do."

"Oh, yes!" Snape said, sitting down on the grass. "What would you like to know?"

She sat tentatively next to him, leaning against a tree. "My first question is…Is there a lot of people who can do magic? Or just a little?"

Severus thought. "I know that there are a lot of witches and wizards, but there are a lot more Muggles than us."

"What are Muggles?"

"Normal people, ones that can't do magic."

"You called my sister a Muggle." It wasn't a question.

"Yes."

"But you said-you said it like it was a _bad_ thing." Lily looked at him shrewdly.

_Whoops_. "I didn't mean to," Severus said quickly, and her gaze relaxed a little. "It was just…she was getting on my nerves…"

To his surprise, Lily laughed, and the sound sent chills down his spine. Good chills.

"I know _that_ feeling!" she said. "She's so bossy sometimes."

"Is it fun, to have a sister?" he asked suddenly.

"You don't have any brothers or sisters?"

He shook his head.

"Well, sometimes it is," Lily conceded after much thought. "It's nice to have someone near your own age to play with. But sometimes she takes being the oldest so _seriously_." She paused. "How are people born with magic?" she asked suddenly. "Cause I don't think any of my family is magic."

"It depends," Severus said. "It either runs in families-there are whole families that are entirely magical-or it's happens to people like you, popping up randomly in Muggle families. And then there are witches and wizards who marry Muggles."

"But, what about those Muggle-borns that don't have _you_ to tell them what they are? How will they know?"

"You get a letter from Hogwarts."

"Hogwarts? Who's Hogwarts?"

"Hogwarts is a school, where they teach us how to be witches and wizards."

"They have a school?" Lily leaned forward, listening eagerly now. "When do I go? Where is it?"

"We get letters when we're eleven, and they tell us how to get there and where to get our school things."

"Like what kind of things?"

"Like books, and wands-"

"Oh! Magic wands!"

Severus smiled. She was hanging on his every word!

"Can you do something for me, Sev?" she asked softly.

"Anything."

"Can you look me in the eyes and tell me that you're telling the truth, that this all isn't some huge lie?"

Lily stared into his face, and he looked in her eyes. Marvelous, large, green ones-deep, like the sea, and intense, full of wit and seriousness. "I would never lie to you."

"Good." She pulled back, and he blinked, recovering from the trance her eyes had plunged him in. "But how come I've never seen a witch or wizard before?" she asked. "If there's lots of them, how come no one has noticed them?"

"Because the Ministry of Magic keeps us from doing magic in front of Muggles. We have the wizard prison, Azkaban, that's guarded by dementors, and bad wizards end up there. Ones that do magic in front of Muggles. Serious magic. Like, hurting them."

"Ministry of Magic?"

"Yeah…and the Ministry can punish you if you do magic outside of school, you get letters."

"But I _have_ done magic outside of school!"

"We're alright. We haven't got wands yet," Severus explained. "They let you off when you're a kid and you can't help it. But once you're eleven, and they start training you, then you've got to go careful." He watched as Lily picked up a fallen twig on the ground next to her and wave it around like a wand. She leaned towards him again, and asked one more for reassurance that he wasn't pulling her leg. And he responded the same as before, and watched her huge green eyes light up in excitement. But the next question he wasn't prepared for.

"Does it make a difference, being Muggle-born?"

Severus thought rapidly. He had been taught all his life that Muggle-borns were bad, were wrong, and that they shouldn't be allowed at Hogwarts, that they shouldn't be allowed to learn magic. But he didn't think so now. Surely Lily wasn't bad? Surely, she could be as good at magic as him?

"No," he said, brimming over with confidence. "It doesn't make any difference."

She relaxed, and Severus could see that was the one important question that she had been worrying about.

"You've got loads of magic," he said to her in reassurance. "All that time I was watching you…" But he could tell she hadn't registered what he was saying. Lily had stretched out on the ground and was watching the leaves sway back and forth in the wind. He just sat and drank in her appearance, the way her face seemed to glow in the half light of the shade, how the rays of sun that had filtered through the thick leaves glanced off her hair like fire.

"How are things at your house?" she asked after a while.

"Fine," he said.

"They're not arguing any more?"

"Oh yes, they're arguing," Severus said with a slight edge to his voice. He absentmindedly shredded some fallen leaves in his hands. "But it won't be that long and I'll be gone."

"Doesn't your dad like magic?"

"He doesn't like anything, much."

They talked a little longer about some more things, and Severus couldn't remember ever being this happy.

Then a noise behind him made him turn, and he saw Lily's sister, Petunia. An unexplained anger came over him. _What was she doing here? Why did she interrupt?_

"Tuney!" Lily exclaimed beside him, and she sounded surprised, but not angry that her sister had been spying. He jumped to his feet, wanting to get rid of her.

"Who's spying now?" he shouted, a little harsher than he meant to. "What d'you want?"

Petunia stepped back a pace, caught off guard and alarmed at being caught. She pointed nastily at his dirty smock.

"What's that you're wearing, anyway? Your mum's blouse?"

Severus couldn't control his anger all he wanted to do was hurt Petunia, hurt her so she would never come near him again. There was a _crack_, and one of the branches over head fell on Petunia, catching her on the shoulder. Tears welled up in her eyes, and she ran away.

Severus calmed down a little, slightly ashamed. He hadn't meant to actually hurt her…

"Tuney!" Lily called after her sister, but Petunia didn't hear her. She whirled around to face him, her eyes blazing. "Did you make that happen?" she asked.

"No," he said, scared that she would leave again.

"You did! You _did!_ You hurt her!" she accused angrily.

"No-no I didn't!"

But he could see that he had not convinced her. Lily took one last look at him, and then turned away, running fast after her sister…leaving him alone, hurt, and confused under the cool shade of the trees.

* * *

**AW! Poor, poor, Snape. I feel for him, I really do.  
****Reviews and comments are much appreciated. Let me know if this story is worth continuing!  
****Once I get them to Hogwarts, then things will get interesting, and I won't be as restricted creatively.  
Cause, Like i said, i'm writing this to fit with J.K. Rowlings story.**


	3. Fighting and Reconciliation

**So…I'm sorry that this took a while…I'm working on another story at the same time on my account and it took me some time for that to come out as I wanted. And then it took time for THIS to come out as I wanted...**

**ANYWAY…I hope you like this chapter. We are now slightly outside of J.K. Rowling's timeline in the book, so for a couple chapters I get to do things my way:)**

**Muwahahahahaha…..**

* * *

Severus sighed deeply and went to get his coat off the ground. It hurt him deeply that Lily was angry with him, and he didn't understand why. He hated to see her upset, or sad, or anything other than happy, really. He yanked his old coat off the ground forcefully. 

Something fluttered softly out of one of the pockets. Something of a light purplish color. Severus picked it up. It was the flower that Lily had done magic on, the one she threw on the ground. He held it carefully, inspecting it to see if any of the petals had fallen off.

But it seemed fine, just the same as he'd found it originally. He put it in his pocket carefully, and walked home in the setting sun.

* * *

Spinner's End was not a pleasant place to grow up. Dilapidated, dark, and overgrown, the usual inhabitants were those who were not so well off: grouchy old people, convicts, and crazy, possessive hobos. 

He had never seen any children on his street.

The nearby river flowed by sluggishly, and the smell of dead fish and garbage was ingrained into everything. Severus was used to it, however.

He walked down the street a little faster than was strictly necessary, and kept his eyes lowered to the ground and refusing to make contact with anyone.

Like anyone would want to speak to him anyways.

He reached the little house he shared with his family. The raised voices of his parents echoed down the stairs, and he sighed. So his parents were home. Oh goody.

Grabbing the half empty box of cereal in the pantry, he raced upstairs to his room.

_"…you tricked me, Eileen. I don't want to be around freaks…I've half a mind to…"_

_"…Freaks? Is that what…"_

Severus shut the door quickly before he could here anymore, digging a hand into the box of cereal and munching on the flakes pensively. Then, as if remembering something, he set the box down and reached into his coat, and pulled out Lily's flower. He unearthed a shoebox out from under his bed and blew the dust off it. Lifting the cover, and setting it aside, he looked his greatest treasures. A Galleon he had gotten for his sixth birthday, a picture of his family right after he was born-one of the only ones where they're all smiling.

When they all looked like a normal family.

He carefully set the flower on top of the picture and closed the box, pushing back under his bed.

_"…don't you give me that shit, woman…"_

_"…talk to me like that, I'm not…"_

Severus's door had swung open a little, and he got up and closed it again, pushing a chair up against it so it didn't open again. But he wasn't fast enough to block out the sound of his father slapping his mother across the face. Severus blinked back tears as he took off his coat and slipped under his blanket. He didn't care that it was still pretty early in the evening. The sooner he got to sleep, the sooner he could get up and leave the house again. He hated that his parents were always fighting. He hated that they hardly ever talked to him anymore. He wished that his mother would come and tuck him in at night, just once, so he could know that she still cared about him.

As he was fading into the welcome dark of sleep, Severus was sure he felt a hand caress his cheek and someone kiss his forehead.

* * *

The sun stung his eyes as it pierced relentlessly through his curtains. _Another day_, Severus thought. 

But not with the blissful innocence of the annoyingly optimistic, no: It was just another day, just like yesterday, and probably the same as tomorrow. That was his outlook on life. He did not go through his nine-almost-ten semi-miserable years thinking that things were going to be better.

But that was before he met Lily.

Lily had unknowingly opened a door for him, had shown him what life could be like when you had someone to share things with, to talk to.

Jumping out of bed, he pulled on a different shirt and threw on his coat. It was Sunday, and maybe Lily and her sister would be out playing in the park again today.

It was this idea that took him out of the house.

Severus went to the little park and waited in the bushes. She _had_ to come back, she just _had_ to.

But she didn't. He didn't see anyone at the park all day.

Or the next afternoon, or at all that week.

Severus sat on his bed that next Sunday morning, as the exact same ray of sunshine that had woken him with such hope last weekend shot through the curtains again. But this time, he didn't jump out of bed. He had all but given up hope that he would see Lily again. He contemplated briefly on not going to the park, but thought better of it. What if she was there? What if she comes today? Besides, it wasn't like he didn't have anything better to do.

Getting dressed softly, he made his way downstairs and grabbed something out of the pantry, heading out the door in the slow way of one who's developed a habit and is just following the motions for no particular reason. His footsteps, naturally, led him to the playground. As he neared it, he could hear laughing voices, and Severus stepped back.

Peeking around the corner, he could see the slim figures of Lily and her sister.

It took a moment for that to sink in. _Lily and her sister…_

He had been seeing nothing at the park all week, and now the sight of people on the swings caught him off guard. Now that Lily was close, all the things he had held in his mind, everything he wanted to say, flew out of his head within an almost audible _whoosh_ing sound.

_Lily was here…what should I do? What should I say? What about her awful sister…_ Severus crouched behind a tree and weighed his options.

Option one: Go up to Lily and say hi, and pretend nothing happened before. Option two: Go up to Lily and beg for forgiveness. Option three: Run as fast as he can back to his room and hope to god she didn't see him. Option four: Wait in plain sight for _her_ to come up to _him_.

He didn't much like options two and three, and he was scared that she would burn him to ashes if he did option one.

So he settled himself with option four. Not very brave or ideal (she might walk right past) but it was safer and less painful than being murdered by a ten-year-old.

So he strategically placed himself in the shade of a small tree, one that she would have to walk by when she went home, and waited.

* * *

Lily was hyper aware of Severus sitting by the tree. She wanted to go over to him, to tell him that everything was alright, that she forgave him…but not while Petunia was around. 

But she didn't want to hurt him again by avoiding him more. She had seen him coming to the park every day, looking for her, but she always stayed hidden. Obviously he still wanted to be friends, and she still wanted to know more about Hogwarts. Because he said they would probably be going next September.

Petunia didn't seem to see him, however. But perhaps she was pretending not to notice, like her. Petunia would not have forgotten hers and Sev's last meeting. They had both hurt each other deeply, and neither seemed about ready to forget it.

Lily sighed. Petunia was just going to have to deal with it. She _had _to talk to Severus. She could help not talking to him. She jumped off the swing, her long red hair blowing in her face and walked over to his post by the tree.

"Are you mad at me?" she asked when she was near enough.

Severus looked up, a wary look in his eyes. "Mad at you? Why would I be mad at _you_?"

"Because I…well…"

"_You're_ not mad at _me_, or anything? Cause I'm sorry, about your sister." The words seemed to stick in his throat. But at least he said them.

"I know. I know. But _she's_ not going to forget." Lily took a deep breath and calmed herself, then sat down next to him.

"Lily!" Petunia's voice screeched. "What are you doing?"

"Talking to my friend!" Lily screamed back. "What does it look like?"

Petunia opened her mouth to say something, but shut it, turning to sit sulkily on the swing.

"I missed you," Severus said quietly. "I came and looked for you everyday."

"I..I know. And I'm sorry. From now on, I won't run away from you."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

They sat there in silence.

* * *

Severus stared at the sun shining through Lily's hair. When it hit the natural highlights, the refraction was like fireworks, and it dazzled him. It was so much more exciting than Petunia's lackluster brown. 

They talked under the tree all day, about life, Hogwarts, and magic. Lily seemed to hang on his every word, and he enjoyed that. For once in his short life, someone cared enough about him to actually be interested in what he had to say. When he was with Lily he was in a spotlight, he had center stage, for however short a time. He was the one unique person in her life, someone who was different from everyone else.

Severus loved the feeling.

* * *

**Cool, yes? REVIEW...cause you get imaginary cookies that way. :) I'll update soon, I promise. I'm trying to get as far as I can before i go back to school (senior year!) and I get less time to write. **


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